“In 2017 VANC had begun to anticipate secular changes affecting the generic and community pharmacy industries,” stated Mr. Bob Rai, CEO of VANC. “These changes included the trend towards increased funded participation by pharmacists in healthcare treatment of Canadians as well as dramatically shrinking margins on generic drugs. Our recent strategic partnerships, acquisitions and key personnel changes are a direct reflection of our vision, with a clear focus on growing beyond generics to provide pharmacists with innovative, value-added products, services and information to support their evolving business models and expanding role as front-line healthcare providers,” concluded Mr. Rai.

Concurrent with VANC’s new focus, the company will be reducing its generic portfolio over the next several months. Emerging opportunities in new healthcare sectors and the diminished ability to profit from generic sales drove this strategic decision. The realignment will provide existing products and services with increased focus and resources. This will also drive the expansion of a portfolio of high-margin over the counter (OTC) and point of care (POC) testing products and services that offer unique value to pharmacists, their patients, and consumers.

VANC is expanding its portfolio with announcements of strategic partnerships with Emerald, acquisition of the Corozon Platform, and plans to increase deployment of and expand offerings associated with HealthTab.

The recently announced strategic partnership with Emerald enables VANC to compete in the emerging medical cannabis sector with a line of endocannabinoid enhancers and with the potential to distribute medical cannabis to pharmacies when that avenue of sales is legalized.

“With a renewed focus on high-margin OTC/BTC product development, in addition to our recently announced partnership with Emerald Health, we anticipate generating increased sales and profitability in this pillar of the business in 2018,” explained Mr. Rai. “This shift in focus has also allowed us to engage with sales brokers across Canada, providing greater coverage to our products.”

The Corozon Platform, acquired in April 2018, offers a variety of functionalities including e-learning, e-commerce and potentially promotional modules. These capabilities ideally position it to serve as an anchor for this pillar of the business, functioning as an educational tool and distribution channel for a number of VANC products, including those the company will distribute for Emerald.

Mr. Rai added: “We will be able to leverage the Platform to promote our latest offerings and educate pharmacists on how to use them effectively. It will serve to drive our relationships with pharmacists and will also be a powerful retention tool. Through Corozon, we can efficiently market new services and products directly to the pharmacist.”

HealthTab will form the core of VANC’s future expansion of its point of care pharmacy screening tests to empower pharmacists and improve patient health. HealthTab as it is today will provide pharmacists with a platform to integrate precise blood chemistry into billable medicine reviews for patients in a timely and convenient manner.

“Our HealthTab service is based on a unique technology initially developed to provide a lab quality yet simple test for astronauts on the International Space Station. VANC can now provide this service to the general population. It will change how patients manage their health. It will also benefit the community by serving as a simple screening tool to detect serious conditions such as kidney failure or high cholesterol,” said Mr. Rai.

HealthTab systems have already been launched with strategic community pharmacy pilot programs in BC and Ontario. Furthermore, commitments for additional deployments have been secured and are scheduled for launch in Q2 2018. Additional tests to complement those currently offered by the HealthTab framework are in development and will make it best in class in terms of scope and accessibility to patients.

“The Emerald investment and licensing and the HealthTab and Corozon Platform acquisitions represent significant first steps in repositioning VANC. Further steps are being taken to create the structure and branding that will drive the evolution of our business to a new level in 2018,” concluded Mr. Rai.

About VANC Pharmaceuticals Inc.

VANC Pharmaceuticals aims to become the partner of choice for forward-thinking pharmacies across Canada. With an established sales force, distribution network, and team of highly experienced professionals in pharmacy, point-of-care testing, and health technology, VANC is growing beyond generics to provide pharmacists with innovative, value-added products and services to expand their scope of practice and support their evolving role as front-line healthcare providers.

For more information, please contact Bob Rai at 604-247-2639 or by email at info@vancpharm.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves VANC’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. VANC generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” “future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming,” and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to VANC as of the date of this release, and VANC assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of VANC and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.